Israeli Minister Demands Detained US Student Renounce BDS, Apologize

Still under detention in Israel after a failed attempt to visit, University of Florida student and US citizen Lara Alqasem’s tentative links to the BDS movement have made her a major target for Israel’s far-right government.

This was enough to detain her under the increasingly severe anti-BDS laws within Israel. Whether Erdan can even choose to let her in is unclear, as Strategic Affairs Minister is a position created in 2006 chiefly to allow Avigdor Lieberman to have a ministry solely focused on planning for a war against Iran.

Whatever Israel decides they can or can’t do to the 22-year-old is fine with the US, however, as the State Department got in front of the story on Tuesday, announcing that they are “aware” of the case, and that the decision is “up to Israel.“

Actually every survivor knows to this day this was a deliberate attack. Not only that, they were threatened to never speak of it. Listen to what they have said over the years and are saying today. Not some hasbara.

There are tapes on which Israeli pilots tell their bosses that the ship is American. And are told to attack anyway. It was a clear day and the Liberty was flying a large American flag. The Israeli jets flew without insignia and jammed the American frequency. Every survivor knows it was an attack done on purpose. You support a foreign nation that has attacked America and bribed and extorted out politicians. Absolutely shameful.

In a devastating documentary aired by Al Jazeera America on October 31st, never-before-heard Israeli military tapes show that the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, which killed 34 American sailors, was deliberate.

The translated words of Israeli commanders and Israeli pilots from tapes can be heard, numerous times, as confirming the identity of the Liberty as “American.” The tapes include a timeline in the background which fixes the times of transmissions, and establishes that confirmation was made before and during the attack. In 2004 the Jerusalem Post published a transcript of Israeli radio transmissions on that day, critical parts of which match the transmissions in the tape obtained by the film-maker, Richard Belfield.

New tapes show Israel’s attack on USS Liberty was deliberate SPECIAL
LISTEN | PRINT
BY RALPH LOPEZ NOV 1, 2014 IN WORLD
In a devastating documentary aired by Al Jazeera America on October 31st, never-before-heard Israeli military tapes show that the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, which killed 34 American sailors, was deliberate.
1 of 2
The translated words of Israeli commanders and Israeli pilots from tapes can be heard, numerous times, as confirming the identity of the Liberty as “American.” The tapes include a timeline in the background which fixes the times of transmissions, and establishes that confirmation was made before and during the attack. In 2004 the Jerusalem Post published a transcript of Israeli radio transmissions on that day, critical parts of which match the transmissions in the tape obtained by the film-maker, Richard Belfield.

Retired Adm. Thomas Moorer accused the U.S. and Israeli governments yesterday of covering up evidence surrounding the 1967 Israeli attack on the American intelligence ship USS Liberty.

Thirtyfour American crewmen were killed and 171 wounded in the combined air and sea attack June 8, 1967, against the reconnaissance ship, cruising in international waters 15 miles off the Sinai Peninsula during the SixDay War.

Israel maintains its fighter pilots, who buzzed the ship for eight hours before the attack, and torpedo boat crews, mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship.

“The Israelis maintain this was simply a case of mistaken identity, but this clearly does not hold water,” said Moorer, who was chief of naval operations at the time of the attack. “In clear visibility, this unique ship was very easy to identify.

“The Israeli forces circled the ship and then proceeded to attack over an extended period of time. There is Simply no way the fighter pilots and torpedo boat crews could have come to such a conclusion,” he said.

In addition to the abovementioned circumstances which show that Israel’s attack was deliberate the lengthy and careful surveillance, the radio jamming, etc. numerous other details belie Israel’s professed innocence. They include: * The Israelis initially claimed they had “mistaken” the Liberty for the Egyptian ship El Quseir. But the El Quseir was only 40 percent the size of Liberty (4000 vs. 10,400 tons). The El Quseir was an old, rustedout horse transport that bore about as much resemblance to the Liberty as a rusty VW does to a new Cadillac. The Liberty was arrayed with numerous specialized antennas, and an ultramodern (for 1967) 16foot microwave dish, a device possessed by no other ship in the world except her sister ship Belmont. She bore standard U.S. Navy markings, which included a freshly painted 10foothigh hull number, and Liberty on the stern.

* The radio jamming is by itself damning evidence that the assailants knew exactly whom they were attacking. Such jamming requires intimate advance knowledge of the target being jammed, obtained by extended monitoring of its signals. And this was selective jamming; it struck Liberty’s frequencies and no others.

Afterward, in one of their ever changing explanations, the Israelis claimed to have learned the ship’s identity when they heard its distress signals. But the attack continued for sixty six minutes after the first distress signal, which the Israelis had jammed, was sent. Had this particular Israeli claim been true, they would have recalled the torpedo boats before they even reached the ship.

* The Israelis claimed that the ship’s U.S. flag hung limp because there was no wind. Later, when presented with the fact that the flag had been perfectly visible, they claimed that they thought that the ship was an enemy vessel flying false colors. The extended radio monitoring, exposing considerable advance investigation of Liberty’s communication facilities, refutes this claim.

* Immediately preceding the attack, an Israeli pilot recognized Liberty as a U.S. ship and radioed this information to IDF headquarters. He was instructed to attack anyway. This dialogue was intercepted at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter revealed the existence of this intercept in 1991.

We had been surveilled all morning and part of the afternoon by Israeli forces. They knew who we were. We heard them reporting over radio who we were and how we were sailing and where we were sailing. They saw the flag and everything else. We were in international waters.

Good thinking. A government would never lie. But all the survivors of the attack would. I think we all know who the bigot is here. You are shameful calling American sailors liars in support of a foreign nation. Shame on you. Shame.

For some reason, links to comments at Antiwar.com don’t work very well (something about the way Disqus is installed, I think). Anyway, the link was to your comment four hours ago in which you called Stern a bigot (“I think we all know who the bigot is here”).

Where have I ever complained about these standards? Never mind “perpetually whined” about them? Why the need to lash out with such juvenile and emotionally charged language? I mean, after all, you are quite thick skinned by your own proclamation. By the way, repeatedly calling someone a bigot is not “expressing an opinion on honestly and knowledge”, is it. It is simply an ad hominem

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Tapes released by the National Security Agency shed new light on the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 Americans and is one of the most controversial mysteries in U.S. Navy history.

The attack, which took place in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, also left 171 Americans injured.

The Israelis have always said the attack on the Liberty, which was monitoring communications in the war, was a tragic accident.

But some survivors and senior U.S. officials at the time have said they believe the attack was a deliberate effort to stop American surveillance of Israeli activities during the conflict.

The NSA on Tuesday released audiotapes of Israeli pilots and ground control speaking in Hebrew, along with English transcripts.

The recordings were made by a nearby American surveillance aircraft in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

“For your info, it is apparently an Arab ship,” says ground control.

“Roger,” says the pilot.

“It is an Egyptian supply ship,” says ground control.

“Roger,” comes the response.

The NSA released the tapes and transcripts under the Freedom of Information Act in response to a request from Miami Judge Jay Cristol.

An author of a book on the attack, Cristol said the tapes show it was a tragic accident in a time of war — that the Israelis mistook the ship for an Egyptian one.

“I don’t think there’s any question that anyone who reads these tapes would be absolutely convinced there was the fog of war out there,” Cristol said.

Later on the tape, the Israelis sound confused and concerned. Ground control orders the helicopter pilots to look for survivors and to check their nationality.

“If they speak Arabic — Egyptians — you’re taking them to Al-Arish. If they speak English — non-Egyptians — you’re taking them to Lod. Is that clear?” says ground control.

* Immediately preceding the attack, an Israeli pilot recognized Liberty as a U.S. ship and radioed this information to IDF headquarters. He was instructed to attack anyway. This dialogue was intercepted at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter revealed the existence of this intercept in 1991.

Of course you are calling them liars. I have posted several of their comments noting that there was no chance the attack was accidental but you claim it was. It disgusts me that this website allows someone like you to call American survivors of this vicious attack by a foreign nation liars all in the service of that foreign nation. Shameful.

You have to go pretty damn low to defend Israel in general but to sink so low as to defend Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty by calling the American sailors liars is just too much. This guy ought to be banned.

The dishonest and thin skinned Mr. Knapp chimes in again with yet another dishonest post. I called Mr. Stern out for his repeatedly calling the survivors of the attack of the USS Liberty in service of a foreign nation and stated he ought to be banned for doing so. Mr. Knapp pretends I asked for his banning because he disagreed with me. It seems the only true crime on this site is exposing Mr. Knapp’s dishonesty as I was previously and others have been. Why does Mr. Raimondo continue to allow this guy to behave like this?

Yes, Mr. Stern disagrees with you on the nature of the attack on the USS Liberty.

You believe the Israeli and US governments, which claim it was a tragic accident, are liars on the subject. He apparently believes the US survivors who think the attack was intentional are liars.

It just so happens that I think you’re more likely correct on that particular topic than he is, but you’re both entitled to your opinions.

I don’t have to “pretend” that you asked for his banning because he disagreed with you. That’s a plain fact. I suppose we could add “because you find that disagreement highly offensive,” but it doesn’t really change the fact.

How many times have you been banned here? None that I can recall, for “exposing my dishonesty” (aka disagreeing with me) or for anything else. Just as the wicked flee when no man pursueth, the whiny whine when no man persecuteth.

Absolutely. I personally doubt that they are liars, but that’s an opinion to which anyone is entitled. Just as you are entitled to believe that the Israeli and US governments are liars on the same subject.

R 112310Z JUL 67
FM NAVCOMMUNIT NAPLES
TO CNO
CINCUSNAVEUR
BT
S E C R E T US EYES ONLY
FOR ADMIRAL MCCAIN AND CAPT KING FROM RADM KIDD
LIBERTY REPORTED JAMMING
1. LIBERTY REPORTED APPARENT DISCRIMINATE JAMMING ON CERTAIN
CW AND VOICE CIRCUITS JUST BEFORE AND DURING EACH AIRCRAFTS
INDIVIDUAL ATTACK. EFFECT WAS TO SCARE MISCHIEF OUT OF THOSE
BELOW WHO HEARD IT START, BECAUSE THEY KNEW A ROCKET OR BOMB
WOULD SOON FOLLOW.
2. COURT CONSIDERED POSSIBILITY THIS PHENOMENON NOT RPT NOT JAMMING
BUT RATHER GUIDANCE RADIATION FROM PLANES RELATED TO THEIR VERY
ACCURATE ROCKET FIRE.
3. JCS TEAM TECHNICAL WERE DISAGREED AND COURT DID NOT SPECULATE.
4. NEWSWEEK ARTICLE REPORTING ON ISRAELI ROCKET METAL SEEKING
GUIDANCE EFFICACY DICTATES THIS POSSIBILITY BE RE-EXAMINED UNLESS
WE KNOW BY OTHER SOURCES EXACTLY HOW THEIR ROCKETRY WORKED.
5. IF THE SIGNALS IDENTIFIED AS JAMMING WERE JUST THAT, THE
METHOD OF EMPLOYMENT WAS SO INEFFECTIVE AS TO BE SUSPICIOUSLY
INCONSISTANT WITH THE REST OF THEIR BAG OF TRICKS.
GP-4
BT

R 261840Z JUL 67
FM CINCUSNAVEUR
TO CNO
BT
S E C R E T US EYES ONLY
LIBERTY REPORTED JAMMING (S)
A. NAVCOMMUNIT NAPLES 112310Z JUL 67
1. (C) CONCUR PARA 5 REF A, UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN EXISTENCE
AT THE TIME CAN SEE NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION FOR ELECTRONIC
JAMMING OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED.
2. (S) THE POSSIBILITY OF THE SIGNALS BEING GUIDANCE SIGNALS
FOR AIRCRAFT ROCKETS IS NOT DISCOUNTED, UNFORTUNATELY NAVEUR
HOLDINGS CONCERNING THE ISRAELI MIRAGE WEAPONS SYSTEM ARE
EXTREMELY LIMITED. IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO KNOW IF THE
ISRAELIS ARE USING FRENCH AIR TO SURFACE ROCKETS OR AIRCRAFT
ROCKETS OF THEIR OWN DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE. HAVE NOTHING TO
PROVE THAT THE ISRAELIS HAVE IN FACT DEVELOPED THEIR OWN AIR TO
SURFACE ROCKETS BUT THIS IS A POSSIBILITY. ANSWERS TO THE
FOLLOWING COULD PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THIS “JAMMING” PROBLEM:
A. DO WE KNOW OF ANY ISRAELI DEVELOPMENT INFIR TO SURFACE
ROCKETS FOR USE WITH THEIR MIRAGES? IF SO, WHAT ARE THE
ELECTRONIC PARAMETERS OF THE GUIDANCE SIGNALS?
B. WHAT ARE THE ELECTRONIC PARAMETERS OF THE GUIDANCE SIGNALS
OF FRENCH AIR TO SURFACE ROCKETS NORMALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE
MIRAGE?
C. COULD AIRCRAFT ROCKET GUIDANCE SIGNALS PROCUED THE JAMMING
EFFECT REPORTED BY LIBERTY?
3. (U) RECOMMEND THIS SUBJECT BE REVIEWED BY TECHNICAL AGENCIES
IN THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.
GP-4
BT

From Naval Court of Inquiry testimony of Wayne L. Smith, RMC: “…We did have [radio frequency] jamming in my estimation. I was unable to determine this exactly, but every time it seems when an attack was made on us, or a strafing run, it was preceded by, anywhere from 25 to 30 seconds, carrier on our HiCom circuit, and I had ascertained to check this by calling the transmitter room and they said that they had not keyed the transmitter. This prevailed during the attack and quite a bit after the attack, intermittently.”

From Naval Court of Inquiry testimony of Carl Francis Lamkin, CTC:”…I heard [about radio jamming] from Radioman Chief SMITH. He said that definitely that he had notice that the jamming was so loud that he thought at first that it was our transmitters which were malfunctioning but he noted, regardless of frequency, this loud jamming noise. At that time we weren’t aware of what they were transmitting at radio central. This is one reason I stressed the fact that the men keep transmitting [distress messages from the transmitter room].”

Naval Court of Inquiry Finding 48:”LIBERTY apparently experienced a phenomenon identified as electronic jamming of her voice radio just prior to and during air attacks. This jamming was described as a steady carrier without modulation.”

Final warning on the screen shot/graphics crap before I start deleting them (and, if I get tired of deleting them, ban you).

An occasional screen shot/graphic might serve a legitimate purpose. Flooding comments with them because you’re too lazy to type is the functional equivalent of spamming, as I have to visually verify that each and every screen shot doesn’t violate the site’s guidelines.

That is, it was initially a tragic accident, but once the Israelis realized they had hit a US ship, the decision was made to try to completely destroy it to cover things up.

I’m not saying that’s what happened. But it seems like a possibility.

The stumbling block to concluding that it was a deliberate attack from the start is figuring out WHY. One commenter here has suggested that it had to do with the US transferring nukes to Israel nearby, but there’s no reason to believe that a US ship would have to be attacked to cover that up. And given that the US tends to pat Israel on the head and tell it to do whatever it damn well pleases, it’s hard to imagine what else might be so terrible that the Liberty had to be attacked to conceal it.

The stumbling block to concluding that the entire incident was a tragic accident is the fact that the attack was extended in time long past when it must have been obvious that it was a US ship.

My own conclusion is that it certainly was not entirely a tragic accident from beginning to end. At some point, the Israelis knew they were attacking a US ship and continued to attack it. I’m agnostic as to whether it was deliberate from the beginning.

Between Knapp and Stern it’s kind of like shooting fish in a barrel given the weakness of their arguments and their ability to make those arguments. However, unlike those fish in the proverbial barrel, these two seem to have no clue as to the fact that are being repeatedly shot.

Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with former Congressman Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey about his role. According to this senior Israeli lead pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, so informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested.

Later, a dual-citizen Israeli major told survivors that he was in an Israeli war room where he heard that pilot’s radio report. The attacking pilots and everyone in the Israeli war room knew that they were attacking an American ship, the major said. He recanted the statement only after he received threatening phone calls from Israel.

The pilot’s protests also were heard by radio monitors in the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter has confirmed this. Porter told his story to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak and offered to submit to further questioning by authorities. Unfortunately, no one in the U.S. government has any interest in hearing these first-person accounts of Israeli treachery.

Let’s see what the survivors of the attack have to say. The ones you apparently think are lying:

Lieutenant Commander Jim Ennes: Reconnaissance pilots were heard telling their headquarters that we were an American ship.

Ennes: Reconnaissance pilots circled the ship 13 times in the hours before the attack.

Ennes: Israeli documents admit that their aircraft identified us in the hours before the attack.

Seaman Bill Casper, a ship’s lookout, says Israel is lying.

Ensign David Lucas: The US flag flew throughout the attack except for a few seconds when it was shot down and immediately replaced.

Signalman Joe Meadors helped haul up an oversize 9×13′ flag before the torpedo boats arrived. Boatmen claim falsely that no flag was displayed.

Meadors: The helicopters that Israel claims were sent for “rescue,” actually carried armed men in battle dress .

Survivor Halbardier describes Israeli machinegunning of Liberty’s life rafts, a war crime under international law.

Ennes: The Israel government’s claim that their forces tried to identify the ship before attacking is untrue.

Ennes: Attacking forces selectively jammed the radio frequencies we needed to call for help.

Ennes: The attack did not stop immediately after the torpedo explosion as Israel claims.

Hrankowski: Irsaeli torpedomen fired on our liferafts in the water.

Ennes: Israel claims firing stopped as soon as the boats came close enough to identify the ship as American. Not so. They continued to fire from close range for another 40 minutes and fired upon liferafts in the water waiting for survivors.

Ennes: Israel has given at least six different versions of what happened, none of with agree with reports by eyewitness survivors.

you utilized cnn in support of your own agenda? that’s hilarious,. cnn = proven pathological lying psychopaths and propagandists, and you, without any research of your own, post a link to cnn as though it has some basis in reality.. you must believe in santa claus, the easter bunny, lockness monster, big foot and aliens as well since you believe cnn is reliable.
There are books on santa claus, the easter bunny, lockness monster, big foot and aliens.. that doesn’t make them factual.. but you read an article on cnn and believe it and post it as if its factual..

cnn have proven out of their own mouths that they are proven pathological lying psychopaths.. a google search will irrefutably support this statement, as there are hours of video proving lie after lie ad infinitum from cnn!

ohhh you’re a participation trophy loser child who has to have all the work done for him and then handed to him on a silver platter, because he’s too lazy or incompetent to do it himself..
You know it’s true or you’re willfully ignorant, in either event, i don’t get paid to educate the mentally deficient!

Khomeini fatwa ‘led to killing of 30,000 in Iran’
By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent12:00AM GMT 04 Feb 2001
CHILDREN as young as 13 were hanged from cranes, six at a time, in a barbaric two-month purge of Iran’s prisons on the direct orders of Ayatollah Khomeini, according to a new book by his former deputy.

More than 30,000 political prisoners were executed in the 1988 massacre – a far larger number than previously suspected. Secret documents smuggled out of Iran reveal that, because of the large numbers of necks to be broken, prisoners were loaded onto forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hourly intervals.

Gruesome details are contained in the memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, The Memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the founders of the Islamic regime. He was once considered Khomeini’s anointed successor, but was deposed for his outspokenness, and is now under house arrest in the holy city of Qom.

Published privately last month after attempts by the regime to suppress it, the revelations have prompted demands from Iranian exiles for those involved to be tried for crimes against humanity. The most damning of the letters and documents published in the book is Khomeini’s fatwa decree calling for all Mojahedin (as opponents of the Iranian regime are known) to be killed.

you saying prove it doesn’t disprove it, well, perhaps in your mind it does.. but as we discussed earlier, you’re a participation trophy failure that BEGS to be spoon fed, because doing your own research is too hard and would cause cognitive dissonance to such a degree you’d drop into a coma if you read something yourself that didn’t support your echo chamber narrative!

meanwhile, the iranian’s aren’t the one’s committing GENOCIDE AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS! We’ve been over this, zionists lie and tell stories about others to distract for their own crimes!

The law should be applied and she should be deported because every country has the right to have its own set of laws. Go ahead and put another brick in the wall of the apartheid state of Israel. The apartheid state of South Africa and the Nazi state of Germany had their laws too.

Before anyone accuses me of comparing Israel with Nazi Germany, understand that the examples are not to suggest equivalency. I am just trying to make the point that laws by themselves do not imply morality or even justice.

I repeat. You think the word subtle can be applied in any context to shooting babies, Medics, and Journalists;starving and denying medical attention to the people trapped in Gaza who are also bombed periodically? And that is very much a partial list.

What exactly is your problem? Are you that hung up on the word subtle or do just feel the need to start a senseless argument? I was waiting for the hasbara to jump all over me for saying Israel is indeed like Nazi Germany but instead I get $hit from someone who thinks just like me when it comes to Israel’s barbarism.

you said Israel = the Nazis
What the Nazis did was historically evil. If Israel is the Na zis then what does that make Khomeni or Saddam. They can’t all be N azis

I know why you do it. To make light of the mass killing of
je ws in WW2 since according to you it was not particularly horrible cause it is done all the time and also you do it to imply since Je ws do what the N azis did what was done to the J ew s in WW2 wasn’t so horrible.

No I didn’t. You need to try to be a bit more honest. Another poster said Israel was like the Nazis — only more subtle. I challenged his use of the word subtle arguing that shooting babies and starving people and denying them medical attention, and trapping them in Gaza which they periodically bomb and drop WP on is not generally categorized as subtle.

Now you are really losing it. Your language has become very confused and is now at the point it is impossible to determine what you are trying to say. Maybe you should just return to your mantra “show the tape”?

Exactly where does it say in the Israeli bill of rights and constitution that all men are created equal and have the same rights and privileges under the law. No point in discussing racism or human rights with people who do not even remotely believe in principles that underpins the rights of man. She is waisting her time, perhaps she can convince Jews who live in the US that these principles are important, but Israel is committed to separate and not equal.

Whatever Israel decides they can or can’t do to the 22-year-old is fine with the US, however, as the State Department got in front of the story on Tuesday, announcing that they are “aware” of the case, and that the decision is “up to Israel.“